Bully
by Bullwinkle's Lady
Summary: SasuHina. High School fic.
1. Chapter 1

Yay, my first Naruto High School fic (but not really). If I continue, it will probably be humor, drama, angst, romance. I'm not sure of the length, or plot, or anything. Meh, I'm open to ideas.

**Bully**

by Bullwinkle's Lady

**Chapter 1**

It was the summer's last pointless barbeque. Hizashi and Fugaku were arguing over spatulas. Kotone and Mikoto were admiring each other's sundresses. Hinata had barely noticed their parents' gentle shift from the deck to the house. She stood barefoot on the pool's edge, loving the way the sunset shined on the crystalline water. Her loose white dress swayed lightly with the breeze, and Hinata closed her eyes, near intoxicated by the chlorine scent.

She loved the pool. She was _in love _with the pool.

It would be ten months until school ended, summer returned, and she would revisit the Uchiha's large suburban household.

A few yards away, Sasuke was slumped in a lounge chair, one of his arms thrown across is eyes, as though to keep out the last bits of daylight. They had grown up just next door to each other, and the two had been best friends at some point or another, back when it had been all right to kiss each other's paper cuts and play in the sand box. But as they grew older, their social standing...or lack thereof...had come to divide them. She was too shy, and he was so handsome. She was clumsy, and he was _oh so _handsome.

At least that was what the girls at school said. She had never found Uchiha Sasuke particularly...particular. He wasn't stupid. He wasn't unattractive. He wasn't _uninteresting..._nor was he particularly interesting. He was just the quiet boy who lived a few feet away from her, had always sat a few desks down from her, and nursed a secret obsession with killer robots and scifi aliens.

Hinata deeply inhaled, trying to absorb the last wisps of summer. Tomorrow would start their first day of junior year. She desperately hoped it would be better than her term as a sophomore.

Eyes still closed, she wondered if she should try saying something to Sasuke. Though their parents were long-term friends, they had always failed to connect as teenagers. But Hinata suspected High School would be so much more _endurable_, with maybe, possibly, just – _one_ friend.

Was there really a point in trying? What had she to offer?

Hinata parted her lips, thinking, _thinking-_

Someone's hand connected, gently, with her back.

Hinata lost her balance and was thrown into the pool. Submerged in the icy water, she messily fought her way to the face. Upon breaking the surface, she gasped for breath and wiped her hair out of her eyes just in time to see Sasuke walking away.

He pocketed his hands and wandered off, as though he wasn't particular at all.


	2. Chapter 2

It was his turn to drive and Naruto was _damn well_ taking advantage of this fact.

He arrived at Gaara's house _super-early_. The redhead was clutching a toothbrush and looking murderous.

"Hey, 'sup," said the blonde, forcing himself into the apartment before Gaara could do more than blink. The shorter boy's parents were dead, so he lived with two elder siblings who were _always _away for work. Gaara _practically_ lived _alone_. The redhead had industriously repelled his friends for years, but Naruto's curiosity had become near maddening. It was junior year, and he vowed to uncover Gaara's secret!

Upon entering the apartment, he spotted no bloodied weapons or dead bodies, just a few pieces of furniture. The place looked tidy and comfortable. It was, perhaps, the definition of normal.

Sighing in both disappointment and relief, Naruto plopped himself down onto the couch that faced the large-screen television. He propped his legs onto the coffee table, ignoring Gaara who had taken to glaring. The blonde snatched up a dusty-looking remote and turned the television on.

**...fuzzzzzzzzzzzz.**

"I don't have cable," muttered Gaara, glancing away suspiciously.

Naruto wrinkled his nose. _...the hell?_ "Then what do you do for fun?"

Gaara's fishy behavior only escalated as he began to back away. "I'm going to go finish brushing my-"

Naruto ignored him. "I want to see the rest of this place," he said, hopping up from the couch and storming into the kitchen before his friend could stop him. He headed straight for the refrigerator.

...No food...n-n-no food...

"So you don't eat either?" Naruto asked dryly. His whiskers twitched in annoyance.

"I eat at school. I don't have the patience for grocery shopping," growled Gaara from the doorway.

A look of disgust had crossed his face as he said the word "shopping." Naruto was almost convinced.

Almost.

Naruto quickly found another door. He burst through it before Gaara could object.

...fantastic...

He could hear tribal music, but it might have just been his imagination. Naruto gazed enviously – ah, I mean, _shocked and appalled_ – into Gaara's enormous bedroom. The room was shades of red and black, from the Persian rug to the silken sheets on the bed. The walls were beige, with black paneling. There were a few candles scattered about, but everything was otherwise dark. There wasn't even a light bulb in the single lamp on the bedside.

Then again...who needed light?

So the apartment was virtually a hoax. The television, the fridge – it was just a façade, the place's ultimate purpose being to _get Gaara laid_.

"_Dude_," said Naruto, offering Gaara a high-five.

The red-head in turn seized his collar and began to drag him toward the window.

* * *

The first class of the day was Chemistry. There was an odd number of students...and she was the only one without a partner. For forty-five minutes, she slaved over her project alone.

It was mortifying...horrifying...lonely...but she was...content.

Sometimes – particularly times when she was so absorbed in her work – she worked _well _by herself.

Better, by herself, than she would with anyone else.

And she was rather a fan of science.

Carefully tipping the sodium chloride into her beaker, Hinata smiled in success as her solution turned red.

Her classmates took to ignoring her that day – even Ino – and it was more than she could ever ask for. Some were struggling to complete their own projects, and others were immersed in personal reunions. Kurenai-sensei had begun to patrol the room with her grade book.

Hinata raised her head, weakly smiled, and waited patiently for her sensei to reach her desk.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Sasuke enter the room.

"Sorry I'm late," he muttered, but Kurenai paid him no mind. It was one of the perks of being son of the assistant principal.

His eyes briefly scanned the room. Sakura immediately waved him over as Ino fervently tried to push Tenten out of the seat beside hers.

Hinata paled when Sasuke's eyes met hers, then lowered to the empty seat beside her. Indifferently, he walked over and slid behind her lab table. "Hyuuga," he acknowledged her.

"S-Sasuke-san..."

Maybe this was...a new start? Maybe the previous day had been an inexplicable accident? Hinata swallowed uncomfortably as Sasuke raised a test tube and examined the remaining flourine within it.

"What do we have here?'

"I was – I-I was-" She stared as he picked up the beaker of the finished substance.

Sasuke emptied the flourine into the beaker, causing her solution to instantly turn black and bubble. He reached for another test tube.

"Wh-what are you-?"

Sasuke dumped some aldehyde into the beaker, this time causing it to hiss and pop.

Hinata pressed her pointer fingers together, watching him raise yet another test tube. He was intentionally destroying her project. She should have stood up for herself! She needed to say something! Hinata opened her mouth-

-and only managed a whimper.

That's when Kurenai reached their lab table, harnessing her thick grade book and giant red magic marker. She frowned slightly and eyed the pair. Hinata watched her scribble down something that looked suspiciously like an "F."

Her eyes watered.

There went her perfect record.

"Tomorrow we'll be dissecting frogs," Kurenai announced as she finished the last of the grades. "Some of these carcasses are inflamed. Remember to bring your goggles."

* * *

**If one of my high school teachers ever alleged we'd be dissecting inflamed frog carcasses the next day, I would have called the department of health. O.o  
**

**The chemical names in this chapter are absolutely, positively, random.**


End file.
